I am just beginning my process of getting jaw surgery and the first thing I did was look at blogs of people who have already had the surgery, I found Meghan's (bloghttp://www.jawsurgeryfun.blogspot.ca/2012/12/december-26-2012-pre-op.html?m=1) and it was the single most comforting and anxiety relieving thing to read. I will definitely be referring back to it during my every stage of recovery! This blog will be my way of paying it forward and hopefully help out anyone who stumbles across this while researching for their own surgery, so here it goes...
Hi, I'm Bailey and my face is lopsided. Most people say they don't notice it until I point it out but I have always been very self conscious of it. Basically, by some random obnoxious chance of fate, the right side of my jaw grew twice as long as the left side leaving me with a cross bite, the inability to open my mouth as wide as I should and a lot of facial asymmetry.
This is what I understand about my condition:
The medical diagnosis is "Skeletal Malocclusion" which by definition is a birth defect that causes "disharmony of the jaws and teeth". The word "Malocclusion" literally means "bad bite" so this fancy-ass word doesn't just apply to the severe cases like mine but even just having teeth crowding or minor teeth crookedness is considered a dental malocclusion and something like 90% of the world has some form of one. Doctors don't really know the exact cause of malocclusions because there are several different classifications each with their own contributing factors, and includes cleft lip/cleft palate and facial deformities as results from other disorders like Down Syndrome. Unfortunately ALL malocclusions are strongly connected to genetics, meaning that a parent with a malocclusion will likely have at least one child with a malocclusion which is unpreventable and often unpredictable. But don't worry too much there is a lot of new research being done and hopefully someone will figure that out, and don't quote me on this but I think there is a test that can confirm whether or not there is an active gene mutation but that part of the research I read was really confusing so I could be wrong. But also its super common for malocclusions to skip a generation and there is also some evidence that some maloclussions can be results of a gene mutation that can only be transferred to children if the parent and the child carries a certain gene; some malocclusions are only passed from father to daughter or mother to son which again nobody really understands. My type of malocclusion is really hard to diagnose before the age of 12, asymmetry is very hard to pick up on and usually only becomes prominent during puberty. I was twelve the first time anyone pointed it out and then it progressively got worse as I got older, this type also really can't be fixed with just orthodontic treatment because it grows and obviously as your jaw grows your teeth shift. It has also been connected to oral habits from early childhood like thumb sucking and any type of trauma to the jaw.
In my case I was exposed to all three risk factors: my father was born with a cleft lip but obviously had it surgically corrected at a very young age (it would take a lot of genetic testing of research to figure out if his cleft was caused by a gene mutation that he then passed on to me or a different random cause all together, clefts are tricky like that apparently as there are multiple factors that could cause a cleft), I was a thumb sucker for YEARS much longer than I care to admit on the internet and finally I was also in a car accident when I was 5 so even though I don't remember it, its completely possible that I banged my chin on something during the crash. 3 for 3 basically guaranteed me a severe malocclusion. I will be undergoing double jaw surgery in August to correct this! But first...braces.
I have officially had my braces on for two weeks and I already cannot wait to get them off. The orthodontist I am working with is fantastic! But all the assistants in the office kept asking me if I was excited to get my braces on to which I responded: "You mean am I excited to be a 21 year old college student with adult braces? Not especially but thanks".
My self-esteem has definitely taken a hit but I am trying to keep positive and remember that the end result will be worth looking like the worlds oldest 7th grader.
